Colman Domingo’s new film sheds light on an inspiring real-life theater program: Rehabilitation Through Art (RTA), which puts people incarcerated in maximum security prisons on stage.
As Domingo, 54, tells PEOPLE, RTA’s “mantra” is “to come in and make a real difference — and not just put on a show, but also convey some beautiful messages that could be used as tools for life.”
Beautiful messages abound on A24 Sing sing, a new narrative film about RTA directed by Greg Kwedar that features actual alumni of the program playing versions of themselves. In addition to Domingo, Paul Racio and Sean San José, the cast consists of men who were formerly incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility or another nearby prison and who have participated in the organization’s theater productions.
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“It all started with a group of people who just wanted to have a voice,” says Sean “Dino” Johnson, founder and current board member of the organization. “It changed my life.”
(L-R:) Paul Raci, Sean San José, Colman Domingo, Sean “Dino” Johnson and Mosi Eagle in ‘Sing Sing’.
A24
A self-described “introvert,” 59, recalls that before RTA, “I wasn’t an effective communicator at all. And being part of the arts, it gave me a vocabulary, it made me feel like I understood other people and I could listen better.”
Acting and collaborating with others on stage — in productions like volunteer playwright Brent Buell’s Cracking the mummy codewhich is shown in the film Sing sing — built a sense of community that wasn’t there before, Johnson says. RTA “taught us how to work together and we started learning from each other.”
Working in six men’s and women’s correctional facilities within a 200-mile radius of New York City, RTA’s mission is to help “incarcerated people develop critical life skills through the arts, modeling an approach to the justice system based on human dignity, not punishment.” Their success is evident: less than 3% of RTA members return to prison, compared to 60% nationally.
“The real power at RTA is the support and humanity that exists when you’re around people on the outside who volunteer their time with us while we’re incarcerated,” said Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez, 48, who was incarcerated at Sing Sing. 23 years, seven months and eight days for a crime he did not commit. Like Johnson, he plays a version of himself in Kwedar’s film.
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Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, who recreates his own involvement in the RTA on screen Cracking the mummy codeis also responsible for Sing sing as a story co-writer (along with John “Divine G” Whitfield, played by Domingo). It’s been “such a wonderful ride,” says the 58-year-old actor, from his first encounter with the theater program within the walls of Sing Sing – he signed up because some of the RTA volunteers were women, he admits with a smile – to the award-nominated premiere at the International Film Festival in Toronto in 2023.
“I’ve met so many wonderful people and I continue to meet wonderful people every day,” says Maclin. RTA “just introduced me to a whole new world.”
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“I want people to recognize the human potential behind the walls that could go out into the world and lift up our communities,” says Kwedar, 39, who witnessed RTA’s impact firsthand when he and co-writer Clint Bentley volunteered with the program at Stormville’s Green Haven Correctional Facility. Jail.
“The beauty of RTA is not in creating better actors who will go out into the world and be in movies and on TV — which I hope many will continue to do — but how they will be leaders in their community, how you will help fix them.” , says the director.
Sing sing it’s in theaters now. For more information on Rehabilitation through the Arts, visit rta-arts.org.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education